Charles Warren Stoddard
Charles Warren Stoddard (August 7, 1843 - April 23, 1909) was an American poet, prose author, and editor. Life Youth Stoddard was born in Rochester, New York on August 7, 1843. He was descended in a direct line from Anthony Stoddard of England, who settled at Boston, Massachusetts, in 1639. While Charles was still a child his parents moved to New York City, where they lived until 1855, when they migrated to San Francisco, California. In 1857 he returned alone to New York, lived with his grandparents for 2 years, and then rejoined his family in San Francisco. In a short time he began writing verses, which he sent anonymously to a local newspaper. They met with great success and were later published with the modest title, Poems by Charles Warren Stoddard. Poor health compelled him to give up his plans for a college education. He tried the stage, but soon realized that such a life was not his calling. Polynesia In 1864 he visited the South Sea Islands and from there wrote his Idyls — letters which he sent to a friend who had them published in book form. "They are," as William Dean Howells said, "the lightest, sweetest, wildest, freshest things that were ever written about the life of that summer ocean." He made 4 other trips to the South Sea Islands, and gave his impressions in Lazy Letters from Low Latitudes and The Island of Tranquil Delights. Several times he visited Molokai, and became well acquainted with Father Damien, the Apostle to the Lepers, and a Catholic saint as of 2009, and wrote his interesting little book, The Lepers of Molokai, which, with Stevenson's famous letter, did much to establish Father Damien's true position in public esteem. In 1867, soon after his first visit to the South Sea Islands, he was received into the Catholic Church, for which he had a most tender devotion. The story of his conversion he has told in a small book interestingly written: A Troubled Heart and How it was Comforted. Of this book he has said: "Here you have my inner life all laid bare." Private life Stoddard was apparently homosexual, as he praised the South Sea folk's receptiveness to homosexual liaisons, and lived in relationships with men. From San Francisco late in 1866, Stoddard sent his newly published Poems to Herman Melville, along with news that in Hawaii he had found no traces of Melville. A homosexual who had written even more fervently to Walt Whitman, Stoddard had been excited by Typee, finding the Kory-Kory character so stimulating that he wrote a story celebrating the sort of male friendships to which Melville had more than once alluded. From the poems Stoddard sent, Melville may have sensed no homosexual undercurrent, and the extant draft of his reply in January 1867 is noncommittal. To superficial observers he was a man of contradictions. He was essentially Bohemian, but of the higher type, a man who could not resist the call of the far-away land, his home, as he himself said, being always under his hat. And yet he was a mystic and a recluse even in his travels. "Imaginative and impressionable", 2 epithets which he applied to his South Sea friends, are particularly appropriate to Stoddard himself. California In 1869, Stoddard became good friends with travel writer Theresa Yelverton. Wild Romance: A Victorian Story by Chloë Schama. New York: Walker & Company, 151-153. In 1873 he started on a long tour as special correspondent of the San Francisco Chronicle. His commission was a roving one, without restrictions of any kind. He was absent for five years, during which he traveled over Europe and went as far east as Palestine and Egypt. He sent considerable matter to his newspaper, much of which was never reprinted, though some of it was among his best work. Around 1880, Stoddard was co-editor of the Overland Monthly with Bret Harte and Ina Coolbrith. Later life In 1885, having decided to settle down, he accepted the chair of English literature in the University of Notre Dame, Indiana; but owing to ill-health he soon resigned. The same reason caused him to resign a corresponding position which he held in the Catholic University, Washington, D. C., from 1889 to 1902. In a short time he moved to Cambridge, Mass., intending to devote himself exclusively to literary work. A serious and almost fatal illness interfered with his plans, yet he was not idle. He put forth his Exits and Entrances, a book of essays and sketches which he called his favorite work; it told of his intimate friend Robert Louis Stevenson and of others among his host of literary acquaintances. At this time he also wrote his only novel, For the Pleasure of His Company, of which he said, "Here you have my Confessions." So strictly biographical are most of his writings that Stoddard hoped by supplying a few missing links to enable the reader to trace out the whole story of his life. In 1905 he returned to California and settled in Monterey with a hope of recovering his health. He lingered on till 1909, when he died in his 66th year. Writing That charm of his traits which may be described as "sweetness, peacefulness, tenderness, gentleness" he imparted to his writings. Noted English authors have given the highest praise to some of his work, and have taken to task the American public for their lack of appreciation of him. Publications Poetry *''Poems. San Francisco, CA: A. Roman, 1867. *Poems of Charles Warren Stoddard. New York: John Lane, 1917. Novel *For the Pleasure of His Company: An affair of the misty city. San Francisco, CA: A.M. Robertson, 1903. Non-fiction *South Sea Idyls. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1873.South Sea Idyls (1873), Internet Archive. Web, Apr. 28, 2013. **New York: Scribner's 1892. *Summer Cruising in the South Seas. London: Chatto & Windus, 1874. *Mashallah! A flight into Egypt. New York: D. Appleton, 1881 1880. *A Troubled Heart: And how it was comforted at last. Notre Dame, IN: J.A. Lyons, 1885. *A Trip to Hawaii. San Francisco, CA: Passenger Department, Oceanic Steamship Co., 1885; 1892. *Hawaiian Life: Being lazy letters from low altitudes. New York: F.T. Neely, 1894. *The Wonder-Worker of Padua. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria, 1896. ** published as ''Saint Anthony: The wonder-worker of Padua. Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 1971. *''A Cruise Under the Crescent: From Suez to San Marco. New York: Rand McNally, 1898. *Over the Rocky Mountains to Alaska. St. Louis, MO: B. Herder, 1899. *''Father Damien: The martyr of Molokai. San Francisco, CA: Catholic Truth Society, 1901. *''In the Footprints of the Padres. San Francisco, CA: A.M. Robertson, 1902. *Exits and Entrances: A book of essays and sketches. Boston: Lothrop, 1903. *The Island of Tranquil Delights, A South-Sea Idyl, and others. Boston: H.B. Turner, 1904. *''In Old Bohemia: Memories of San Francisco in the sixties. Portland, Or: Pacific Monthly Publishing, 1907. *''The Lepers of Molokai. Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1908. *''The "Overland" and the Overlanders. Portland, OR: Pacific Monthly Publishing, 1908. *''A Bit of Old China. San Francisco, CA: A.M. Robertson, 1912. ''Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Charles Warren Stoddard, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 28, 2013. See also *LGBT poets *List of U.S. poets References Fonds * Finding Aid to the Collection of Charles Warren Stoddard at the Bancroft Library Notes External links ;Poems *"At Point Lobos" at Poetry Atlas. *Charles Warren Stoddard in An American Anthology 1787-1900: "Albatross," "The Cocoa-Tree," "The Royal Mummy to Bohemia," "Wind and Wave" *"Pedro de Alvarado: A poem" ;Books * *Works by Charles Warren Stoddard at Internet Archive *Charles Warren Stoddard at Amazon.com ;About *Charles Warren Stoddard at GLBTQ *Charles Warren Stoddard Timeline: August 7, 1843 - present at OutHistory.org. * 1905 In the Bungalow with Charles Warren Stoddard, Article with photos Category:1843 births Category:1909 deaths Category:People from Rochester, New York Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American people of English descent Category:American poets Category:American travel writers Category:American novelists Category:American memoirists Category:University of Notre Dame faculty Category:The Catholic University of America faculty Category:American reporters and correspondents Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism Category:LGBT writers from the United States Category:19th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:LGBT poets